Beauty and The Beast: A Damon and Elena Love Story
by MidnightGirl467
Summary: Disney's Beauty and The Beast with a Damon/Elena twist. Can she fall in love with him before the last petal falls?
1. Prologue

**Whenever I watch Beauty and The Beast I can't help but relate it to Damon/Elena. This idea came to me awhile ago ever since I re-watched the film in 3D and watched a fanvideo comparing both Damon/Elena with Belle/Beast. This is one of the longest prologues I've ever written but I couldn't shorten it in anyway and I couldn't help but keep writing more and more. I know I'm writing alot of stories at one time now but I promise from now on I will be quicker with updating and so on. I hope you enjoy this. Thanks for taking the time to come and read. **

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Mystic Falls appeared to be like any other small town in Virginia. Nothing seemed different, strange or peculiar. Everything was normal just the way the civillians liked it. The town's people believed in only what they could see with their own eyes, the idea of magic and monsters were only told in books for children and nothing more. Even if you read books and believed in such things you would be sent to the local Asylum and everyone would just immediatly assume you belonged there. Monsters and magics was imaginery and totally absurd. Yet for people who was totally against the idea of magic and monsters, it lived right under their noses...

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In the year of 1864, a man lived in the biggest mansion that was in Mystic Falls. No one had a grander or larger mansion than he did, not even Mayor Lockwood. Everyone looked up to the man who lived at Salvatore Manor, they all respected him and his choices. He worked with the Mayor on a daily basis about what should happen with the Town and how to deal with certain criminals and so on. Many of the young girls considered him to be the 'Prince' of Mystic Falls and would give anything to marry him, to have his love. No matter how much they wanted his love and devotion it seemed as though Damon Salvatore was incapable of love.

The townspeople loved Damon Salvatore, he was confident, handsome, charming, witty and highly intelligent. He was extremly rich and held great power over the town. Basically, Damon Salvatore was everything everyone wanted to be or have. He was the local inspiration for lack of better word. Even though the majority of the town loved him there was those who despised him but kept it to themselves so they wouldn't get harmed or punished. The minority had reasons to hate Damon Salvatore because really he was selfish, conceited and hated those who didn't live up to his standards of beauty. Damon Salvatore believed that if you had no beauty, you did not deserve to talk him or even live in his precious town of Mystic Falls. He had everything he always wanted yet still it was not enough, nothing could be enough for him.

One night when the town was suffering one of it's most terrible storms of the year. The 'Prince' recieved a knock on the door from outside which seemed to quiet compared to the thunder and rain that pounded restlessly on the Salvatore Manor's rooftop. Groaning to himself Damon ordered his Butler Stefan to answer the door and to see who would be knocking at his door at this time of night. Stefan obeyed and wen to answer the door without saying a word.

Five minutes later, Stefan returned to the parlour where his Master was currently drinking through the liquor supply. Stefan informed Damon that an old beggar was at the door who insisted he talked to her and that she wouldn't leave until Damon had spoke to her. Slamming his glass of bourbon onto the luxurios mahogany table he went to answer the door, complaining of how he had to keep up appearences in a town of people who were nothing other than stupid and weak. All of them cared for their pathetic humanity far too much for his liking.

Damon came to the door and didn't hide his disgust at the woman before him. She wore a black travelling cloak and wore the hood up over her face casting dark shadows over her cheekbones and eyes. In her hand was an old worn tree branch that she used as a walking stick. The woman had long greasy black hair that was hideously overgrown and flowed past her waist. She lifted her hands up and grasped the hem of the hood before pulling the velvet material down. Her faces was covered with moles, warts and wrinkles making Damon wrinkle his nose in hatred. Damon Salvatore had never seen someone was so hideous in real life, the girl before him held no beauty and was not even the slightest appealing. His hand gripped the edge of the door with every intention of slamming the door in her face.

"Sir." The ugly woman whispered to him as she used her walking stick to help her bend into a curtsey. "May I have shelter, please? I have travelled so far and have no shelter from the storm. Your Manor is all I could see through the woods."

Damon rolled his eyes and hissed under his breath. He had no time for this nonsense. His hand tightened around the door and moved it slowly to shut it without saying a word but the beggar placed her hands out in front of her in protest. Shaking from the cold, she put her hand into her cloak and revealed a rose, the reddest rose that Damon had ever seen in his life. The rose was the darkest shade of red that only paint could ever produce not nature and the the stem was a rich green, it was beautiful. The rose was illuminated with the most beautiful glow clearly stating the magic properties that the rose so obviously possessed. Damon hadn't seen nothing like it in his life which was exactly why he didn't trust it.

"Please, Sir. I will give you this rose for one night's shelter. My name is Bonnie Bennett, I have no family or friends in this town. Please." Miss Bennet continued to beg.

She was telling the truth about her family because Damon had never heard of Bennett's in Mystic Falls which only made him distrust the woman stood in front of him even more. He glanced down at the rose before returning the beggar's gaze and he couldn't help but laugh. The idea that she wanted to come into _his _home was preposterous and idiotic. No way would such an ugly creature sleeping his household.

"No. I don't want a stupid rose. You are not coming into my home so you can fill it with your dirty essence. The idea of having you in my home makes me feel sick!" Damon chuckled darlky before slamming the door shut on the old beggar, a proud smile on his face.

Highly amused with himself, Damon walked back into the parlour and saw Katherine and Caroline, his maids cleaning up around the house for the night without even saying 'Thank you' or acknowledging their existance he retreated to his bedroom for the night.

Damon lay in his bed that night for hours but sleep did not come for him. He lay there only hearing the owls hoot, the howl of the wind, the anger of the thunder and the heavy rain that seemed to be destroying his roof. He could hear all his Staff going to thier rooms in the Manor for the night, all of them groaning and moaning in disapproval of having a job with Damon Salvatore but this only made him laugh more. He knew they could not quit or retire from their work because it would only mean they would no longer have homes or work. If Damon Salvatore gave you a bad name you would have it for the rest of your life and possibly even after death.

"People are so weak these days." He muttered to himself.

Suddenly Damon's bedroom windows rattled and floorboards creaked around him. Rolling his eyes, he turned to face the ceiling, it was obvious sleep would not find him tonight. The large window opposite Damon's bed opened which he assumed was from the wind. Sighing to himself, he made a note to ask Matt to fix the window tomorrow. Damon tossed the blankets from his body and made his way over to the window. He grasped the latch and turned it but still the window wouldn't close.

"Damon Salvatore." A pretty female voice whispered from behind him.

Damon turned around to see what girl could posses such a voice and why she was in his bedroom. Damon's mouth hung open in shock as tjhe the old beggar from earlier near his bed. Her body was no longer hunched and her hand no longer had the walking stick. Bonnie Bennett stood straight and tall in front of him. Her fingers, for the second time that evening, grasped the hood of her cloak and she pulled it down revealing her face in the candelight that Damon couldn't remember lighting. Ms Bennet smirked at his expression, her finger tracing over a flame that stood next to her.

"What are you doing here? How did you get in?" Damon hissed at her closing his mouth as he remembered the sight from her earlier.

Ms Bennet stepped towards him, the travelling cloak flowing behind her creating a pool of black velvet on his floorboards. More candles and flame continued to appear around the room and her finger would trail over each and every one. Her eyes met with Damon's and with another twisted smirk she undid the knot to her cloak and let it fall to the floor. She pointed to his heart, her finger was no longer crooked like it had been earlier but it still possessed the warts and boils but as Damon eyed her finger closely he could see each one slowly disappearing.

"You would not give me shelter tonight because I lacked beauty. Mr Salvatore you should not be decieved by beauty because true beauty can only be found within. You maybe handsome, Mr Salvatore but you lack emotion, the power to feel and empathise. You do not love, show kindness or generosity unless people are beautiful by your standards. Everyone is beautiful, Mr Salvatore inside and out. Soon you wil learn." She whispered, her brown eyes holding his gaze like he was under some sort of spell.

Damon took in everything that the woman was saying and dared not to speak beause he was too enchanted by what was happening before him. The woman was slowly growing even more taller to average height and younger within seconds, her hair began to grow shorter and stopped just passed her shoulders. Curls formed in her hair and hung around her heart-shaped face in curls. Every pimple was being washed away as if by magic and soon Bonnie Bennett was one of the most beautiful women that Damon Salvatore had ever seen in his life. He wanted to go back in time and invite her into his home but it was too late. He hated himself for not offering shelter to Bonnie Bennet, a beautiful enchantress.

"I am so sorry, Miss. I apologise for my actions but please let me make it up to you. Stay here tonight. Stay for as long as you want." He begged her, his hands clasped together almost in a silent prayer that she would take mercy on his soul.

"No. You will never learn Damon. Never. To learn you must feel what it's like to be the one on the other side of the door, the one begging for shelter." Bonnie pulled out the rose for the second time that evening but now the petals had turned black yet it still remained beautiful and glowing. "This rose will last for a hundred and fifty years...possibly less. You have until the last petal falls to find love. You must fall in love and the girl must love you in return or..." Bonnie trailed off and her hands waved around in front of her as she chanted words in a dead language.

Bonnie chanted louder and louder, glaring down at Damon her eyes buring with power and anger. Damon shrieked out in pain but Bonnie kept on chanting, kept causing him more pain with each word that left her mouth. Damon dropped to his knees on the floor as he rolled around in agony yet no matter how much he begged her to stop, she didn't. The house shook violently but Damon knew that was also due to Bonnie's chanting. The painful torture carried on around the house for more minutes that only seemed like hours. Bonnie's eyes closed as she came to the end of her chant. Her mouth closed and her eyes opened sharply causing Damon to scurry back against the wall still in pain from her enchantment. His eyes now closing from the deep pain that churned in his body.

"You will remain like this forever if you cannot find a girl. Find a girl who loves you in return or stay like this forever, Mr Salvatore."

Damon Salvatore opened his eyes and Bonnie Bennett was gone. She had vanished into thin air and he laughed at himself as the pain died away, thinking he may have had too much to drink but that was not the case because as he made his way back to his bed, Damon glanced briefly at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes widened in horror as he breathed in his new appearance. Damon's eyes were blood red and the viens on his face pulsed wildy, sticking out under his eyes. He moaned in pain whilst something begun to grow in his mouth and jaw. He opened his mouth and unwillingly took a closer step to the mirror, his teeth were now sharp and two overgrown fangs hanging from his upper set of teeth. Damon closed his eyes and opened them again praying that the mirror was lying to him, that it was a trick of the light. Damon opened his eyes but the reflection was still there, the witch had actually turned him into a monster!

Damon vowed that he would never leave his home again. No one would ever see him like this. He dropped to the floor in shame and realised that everything in his home had changed, everything had become darker and monsterous looking. He placed his head in his hands and tried to block out the new sensation of hunger that was taking over him. He needed to drink something he was sure of it, his mouth watered for it. He needed something to satisty his hunger but he knew from the back of his mind that it was something dark, something horrible. Blood. He needed blood. Warm, fresh blood straight from the viens.

Slowly Damon found the strength to move and his hands grasped the sides of the mirror getting ready to smash it to a million pieces. He didn't want to see his face like his, he didn't look like this. He was handsome and now his face held only monsterous features. Just as he lifted the mirror a green light shone from the centre almost blinding him. Damon let go of the mirror and stepped backwards onto the bed trying to hide from the light that seemed to find him no matter where he seemed to hide. The light disappeared and face begun to form inside the mirror, the face of Bonnie Bennett. She smiled sadly at him and for a moment Damon wondered if she had come to take the curse away from him.

"This mirror will let you look onto the outside world. Say what you want to see and you will see it but that is all it will do. Everything and everyone has changed in this house because of your actions, Mr Salvatore. All you have to do to change it back is to love someone who sees beauty within you." With her last words Bonnie was gone and Damon doubted that she would ever return to him.

Damon leaned back onto the bed, his arms outstretched behind his head as the craving within him grew stronger. He needed blood but how could he get it? How? He didn't know, had he really become something from a pathetic novel? Had he truly become a vampire? He knew the answer but still the truth hadn't really sunk into his body yet. It all had to be a lie. He would wake up in the parlour and everything would be a nightmare that he conjoured but still he doubted that. There was no hiding from it he had become a monster, a beast that shouldn't be living. He traced his tongue over his fangs and wondered how a girl could ever love someone who looked like the devil?

Years passed and still Damon Salvatore had not left his house. The rumour had spread that he had left town along with his staff and did not plan on returning. Damon was slightly disappointed that a better rumour had been intiated about his disappearence. He had not left his home and only ever saw daylight. Winter, Summer, Spring and Autumn had all melted into one as he didn't care to celebrate the start of a new season. He would feed on the blood that Stefan and Matt would get from the local hospital at night as the curse didn't allow them to walk in the day. Every one of his staff needed blood which only sent his depression into a darker state.

More years passed on and still no girl had walked into Damon Salvatore's life. No one had entered his Manor in years and no one went into the forest that surrounded it. Nothing was to be seen or heard from miles around and no news from the town ever came back to Damon. It was like the little town of Mystic Falls had died away and had become nothing but a bittersweet memory of his human life.

The witch's words were implanted on his brain as he begun to lose hope and started to believe that he would stay this way forever. All he had to was love another and earn her love in return. It shouldn't be that hard but it was just the matter of finding the right girl. If he found the right girl before the last petal falls, the spell would be broken. If not he would be forced to remain a vampire for the rest of eternity.

Time drew on and Damon fell into further despair as did his staff. Soon all of them came to accept that they would stay this way forever. They all continued their work at day and stole the blood that they needed at night. The same boring routine everyday for the rest of eternity seemed boring but neither of them had wanted to say something to their Master. Normalcy was the only thing left he had of his humanity. They were his workers and they would forever have to obey by his rules.

Damon knew that everyone who worked for him was suffering too and were falling under the same wave of depression he was. Damon shrugged it off though and would say they would have to get used to it because they would never find someone who would love him. They would never find a girl to love him.

After all who could learn to love a Beast?

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**Okay so what did you think? The last line is from the Disney movie but I just couldn't resist putting it into this story. I really really hoped you enjoyed this prologue because I really love writing this story. Please review and my Twitter is FlyingFireworks for those of you who want to follow me. I would love to see you guys there. To those who read my other stories they will be updated soon I promise.. I will focus on I Will Wait Forever and You're My Humanity because they are the last ones to be updated. Thanks for reading xo Love MidnightGirl467 xXx**


	2. Nothing But A Legend

**Okay here's the first chapter and I hope you like it. I had a hard time writing this chapter because I couldn't think on what to do with it. I hope you enjoy it and thank you for taking the time to read it. **

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**Present Time...**

Elena Gilbert was the only daughter to Dr Johnathan Gilbert, a man who was seen as mad and the lunatic of the town of Mystic Falls. Though his title was 'Dr' no one really seemed to care about how he had recieved it, how smart and how much of a hero he must have been to have saved all the lives he had done in the past. No, that didn't matter in Mystic Falls what mattered was what you believed in, and if you believed in monsters and enjoyed having an imagination you were one step closer of being sent to the Asylum. Johnathan was labelled as the village idiot and his daughter, Elena was known as the beautiful strange girl that would read or write too much for a woman.

Elena Gilbert was seventeen years old and was an inspiring writer just liked her mother Isobel had encouraged her to be. She relished in the fiction and fantasies of monsters that would somehow find their humanity at the end of the story and save someone they had learned to care for at the end. Elena dreamt of the epic romantic stories that would creep up on her despite what story she read. She dreamed of falling in love with someone and then having their own happily ever after. Someone who would love her for she was, who wouldn't call her strange just because she read books and wrote her own stories. Basically, she wanted someone who would enjoy the idea of her having imagination.

Sighing to herself, Elena opened the window and breathed in the fresh summer air that would always inspire her to write the epic love story that she had always wanted to write. Elena sighed again, she would never find the write words because she had never been in love herself. No boy she had known had ever helped in the hallway when she stumbled and dropped her books, they were all too intimidated by her which seemed ridiculous to Elena. Also, every mother had warned their son about dating Elena Gilbert, the daughter of the lunatic. No mother wanted the stigma of having their son fall to the beauty of Elena Gilbert, they refused to be related to the insane people of Mystic Falls.

The air floated around the room causing Elena to grab the closest hoodie she could find. She picked up the blue jacket and zipped it up all the way to her chest as she made her way over to her desk. Paper, pens, notebooks and her diary lay scattered all over the mahogany desk from where she had spent nearly all last night trying to find the perfect words to describe the attraction her character felt towards her soul mate. The pages of her diary were open for anyone to see, for anyone to peer into her thoughts but Elena knew her secrets were protected because nobody would be sneaking into her bedroom during the darkest hours of the night just to watch her sleep. There wasn't anybody who would even want to sneak into her room so they could read her thoughts, her worries, her cares and everything else that she would decide to pour onto the page. Nobody wanted to know her, nobody cared or even found her interesting. No one except her father, the only man she would probably ever love and idolise.

Her hand reached out over the scattered pages and ink, her fingers running over each word she had written and memories of last night came back to her. Her fingers curled around a hair tie as she picked it up from the desk and tied her hair with it as she remembered what she had been writing last night. For some reason last night she had wrote down the story that her father had told her when she was child. A story that took place right here in Mystic Falls but sadly if the story was based on truth she would never know. Elena smiled when she remebered her father telling the story when she was younger, it was the only story she would listen too. Elena remembered that sometimes she would refuse to go to sleep just so she could listen to it again and again.

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_"Daddy, tell me the story!" Elena squealed jumping up and down on bed with her hands in the air, a wicked smile on her face as she gazed into her father's eyes. Johnathan shook his head as he grabbed his daughter around the waist forcing her gently to lay on the bed to go to sleep._

_"Please!" She screamed at him again as she rolled up the sleeves to her pink pyjamas as she climbed into the bed. Johnathan laughed at his daughter, silently wishing to himself that his wife could have seen how much their daughter was like her. He kissed Elena on the forehead before tucking in the blankets around her body. _

_"Okay, okay. I'll tell it." He told her as he hopped up to the end of the bed and laid next to his daughter, placing his arms behind his head as he stared into the brown doe eyes of Elena. "Okay so years and years ago, there was a man who lived in Mystic Falls who was so rich and powerful that he was the ideal Prince of Mystic Falls. Every girl wanted his love but what they didn't realise was that the Prince was incapable of love, he didn't feel or even see inner beauty which is-" _

_"What really matters!" Elena said mocking her father, pulling up her blankets so only her mischievous dark eyes could be seen. The blanket muffled her giggling and it was these moments that Elena most resembled her mother Isobel when she was being reckless, sneaky and giggling like the young mischievous child she was. _

_Ignoring his daughter's comment John carried on with the story just like he always did at this time because for some reason this is where his daughter would always interrupt him. No matter how much he would tell her the story she would always say 'what really matters' after he said inner beauty, something that Elena had huge amounts of along with stunning physical features too. _

_"One time a witch came to visit the Prince and placed a horrific curse where he turned into a monsterous beast because he had not learned to love another. The curse was cast upon the castle and all who worked there just because he couldn't find inner beauty, the beauty that truly mattered." John paused for a moment before continuing. "The witch who cursed the Prince made him a promise; he could turn back into the human that he had once been if a girl would love him in return. If this did not happen he and his staff would forever live as monsterous beasts. The witch had give the Prince two things; a enchanted rose and a magic mirror that would allow him to see into the outside world. The rose was beautiful and held unseen magical properties but by the time the last petal fell, the Prince must have learned to love and be loved in return." _

_John smiled and kissed his daughter's forehead as she led against her pillow, her eyes closed and her mouth slightly parted. There would be no doubt that in the morning John would hear about Elena had saved the beast from his curse and how he had learned to love her. His daughter would always see the good in people, always believe that everyone was worth saving and that second chances existed in life. Yes, there was no doubt that he believed his little Elena was naive and would soon come to learn the ways of the world but right now he didn't want her to lose that part of her personality because it made her beautiful on the inside as well as the inside. John stood up and turned off his daughter lamp before leaving his daughter's bedroom. _

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Elena smiled at the memories and breathed in every inch of the story. Her hand searched for the nearest pen on the desk as she jotted down some more of the story that she had now remembered. She always seemed to forget about the Magic Mirror that the witch had let the Prince possess yet she would never forget the rose as it was really the most significant object within the tale. Everything about the story had been so relatable to Elena as a child and now she begged for it to be true because some part of her longed for the fairytale romance that came with the story. A girl falling in love with a man who wasn't capable of it and who looked like a beast was one of the most poetic things she had ever read or heard. The story had made her believe in love and totally disagree with everybody else in Mystic Falls who thought looks and the 'right' personality was all that mattered when it came to love. Loving someone despite their flaws, their weaknesses, their challenges were never spoken of and always kept hidden away in the family closets.

A brief knock at the door interrupted Elena's thoughts on the pompous and so called righteous people of Mystic Falls. Elena turned around in her chair to face her visitor that could only be one person: her father. She greeted him with a friendly smile which he returned as he sat on the edge of her bed. Her father's hair was tousled and frayed but still his hair had the same colour it always had ever since he was a little boy. The creases on his eyelids and around his mouth when he smiled were really the only part of him that had aged. John's eyes twinkled as he gazed his beautiful daughter, a twinkle that could only be shared between father and daughter.

"Elena love, I need you to go into town and get a book for me from the Library whilst I sort some paperwork out here. Would you mind?" He asked her, knowning that his daughter would never pass up the opportunity to visit the Library.

The Library had always been Elena's home, her own peaceful sanctuary where she could get lost in stories that gave her hope for reality. When Elena had first moved to Mystic Falls after her Mother's death she spent nearly all her time at the Library, reading books where death didn't exist, where the were just happy endings. The Library had become a place where there was nothing but peaceful silence and fictional characters that always seemed to fall in love in ways she couldn't even begin to describe.

"Of course. What book is it?" Elena asked leaning forward into her chair almost buzzing with excitement.

John laughed at his daughter's excitement. She was seventeen years old but when it came to books and fiction she was the little girl that she had been when her Mother had been alive. Elena didn't notice the subtle differences in her personality like her Father did but he knew that when Isobel had died, the trauma of her death had left marks on the both of them. His marks could be seen by the public eye but hers were hidden and carved into her skin so deep where no one could see so much that even Elena didn't notice. She had believed that the changes had been from moving to Mystic Falls and from growing up.

"It will be in the History section, just ask Mr Saltzman for it. He'll know what I'm looking for." John smiled and hoped that his daughter wouldn't ask questions.

"Okay." Elena smiled. "I won't be late."

"Good. Good."

John gave his daughter another half hearted smile before raising up from the bed and walking towards the bedroom door. His feet dragged against the carpet floor like an old man who was losing the feeling in his feet. John's hand rested against the door frame as he turned to look back at his daughter one last time. Elena could never know about his other job in Mystic Falls, she could never know about the history behind it. He would keep it a secret, protect her from what lurked in the shadows at night. He would protect his daughter before anything else. She was the only thing that mattered in his life.

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The Salvatore Mansion was filled with light but there was no movement in the house. The curtains were closed along with every window, some were even boarded up with large planks of wood to keep the sun from entering the house. The sun had once been promising, marking a new day and possibly the day where eveything could change for the residents who lived within it's walls. Now it was nothing but a painful reminder that Damon Salvatore would be a monster forever and living in the shadows until night came and freed him from his bedroom. Every night he would walk in the gardens and breathe in the fresh air, hearing nothing but the wind.

Every window in Damon's bedroom had been one of the few rooms to be boarded with wooden planks. Damon hated the light, hated that he couldn't step into it and feel the warmth against his skin. He missed the warmth that sun had once gave to his body, something so small but something that he missed dearly but it was all the little things he really missed such as social interaction, the light, being able to visit new places and not to be controllled by hunger, by bloodlust.

At first the bloodlust had been something that he couldn't control even his staff had been constant temptations and the blood bags from the local hospital had never satisfied his cravings. In the beginning, he had snuck out during the late hours of the night and looked for any people who were on their own. He had seduced his pray into coming into the woods with him and they would always following willingly with little persuasion. Smirking, he would place his victims up against a tree making sure they could not move whilst his hands would caress their skin. Their skin would always feel so soft, warm and pumping with blood that after a placing a soft kiss to their neck he could no longer deny himself of it. Damon's fangs would pierce through their necks, breaking the skin whilst the fresh blood would flow into his mouth. Nothing would compare to the fresh blood but after a few years, he had learned to control it and now statisfied the hunger with the stale blood bags from the local hospital.

In the corner of the room was a small little flame that hardly gave off any source of light for Damon to read Wuthering Heights, a book that he had read over a thousand times. It didn't matter about the little flame because Damon's eyes had become pretty well adjusted to the dark and he could see the small print on the pages clearly. He supposed it was one of the perks of being a Vampire, the incredible sight and hearing. There was only one other source of light in the room; the rose. The rose had been covered with a glass case just to make sure it wouldn't get harmed. The rose meant everything to Damon despite that it was one of the worst reminders that his time was running was out. There were very few petals left on the rose and every day another would fall, joining the group of petals that surrounded the stem. Damon's time to find a girl who would love him was running out but after all these years he had come to terms that he would be a monster for the rest his life but that wasn't what bothered him. Secretly, what bothered him was that he had managed to place this curse on all his household staff. They had become monsters due to his ignorance and somehow he doubted he could ever learn to live with that amount of guilt that seeped through his veins everytime he looked at them.

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Only a few minutes ago had Elena brought back the book that John had needed to complete his research. She had brought it back with nothing but a smile before retreating to her room to read the latest book that she had borrowed from the Library. Elena had never asked questions that somehow his work for the hospital never seemed to add up with the books he would ask her to get him from the Libray but he was sure her supsicions about him or maybe she thought he was just intrigued by the history of the town. He didn't know and if he asked it would only raise more questions. John sighed to himself but his daughter could never know about the monsters of this town but that was only if the legend had been true.

John rested the book on his desk in front of him before getting up to lock the old wooden door to his study. Slowly, he sat back down and rested his arms on the leather arms of his desk chair leaning back slightly. His thumb traced over his pouted lips absent mindedly whilst his eyes peered down at the book in front of him. The book was a leather bound journal of the founding families in Mystic Falls giving a brief background on all them and telling you where they were buried in the local cemetary probably to make you feel guilty into seeing them, paying your respects to the people who had founded your home. John sighed again. If what he thought was true this entire journal could mean he finally found what his Wife's research had been about, this one journal could change everything for him. He flipped open the book and began to read searching for one name in particular. His eyes searched until the name appeared on the page and quickly John began to read.

_**Damon Salvatore**_

_Damon Salvatore was a powerful man and one of the richest men that had ever lived in Mystic Falls. His father Guiseppe had been the original founding member of Mystic Falls but had killed himself after Damon's mother Maria had died when Damon was only fifteen years old. Damon, however, didn't seem affected by the loss of his father and began to take over Guiseppe's place withing the founding council. Damon helped the Mayor with the running of Mystic Falls and was the ideal partner for any girl who wanted to be seen as a 'Princess.' _

_Sadly, Damon left town in 1864 and had never returned. There was no other documents of him in any area surrounding Mystic Falls. He was never found or neither was body so we do not the death date of the great man that was Damon Salvatore. He went missing at the age of twenty four though his house still remains in good condition. _

_There are legends that Damon never left town, that he was murdered during the night of the storm along with his staff but it's nothing but a legend. _

"Nothing but a legend...it's true." John breathed out. The words echoing around the room. "The legend is true." He whispered again unable to control himself.

His wife's research had led him to Mystic Falls and the unnatural history that possessed within it's walls. The history that even the town was completely oblivious too. John somehow managed to find the strength to smile as he read the passage over again. He knew the truth about Damon Salvatore and know it was to time to put his knowlegde to use. John had to find Damon and do one thing and one thing only; he had to kill him.

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**Okay so how was that for a first chapter? I hoped you enjoyed it. There's more of the plot next time and a bit of drama/ angst. Twitter is FlyingFireworks. Don't forget to review, thanks for reading. Love Midnightgirl467 xox**


	3. I Need Someone

**So finally I have updated! Please don't hate me. I'm so sorry but I have good news I have already started walking on the next chapter. Thank you for your patience with all these updates, thank you. Oh I'm on Wattpad now the username is Flyingfireworks. Right, I'll shut up and let you read now. **

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The sun rose on yet another unfulfilled morning in Mystic Falls. People rose from their beds and shuffled through the mind numbing town with the same plastered smiles on their faces. Children clung to their parents and would look in awe of the old Library wondering about the marvelous adventures that lay hidden behind the walls and why were they were so forbidden to read any of them. None of them, not even the supposed adults knew that monsters were practically their next door neighbours. Well, all except one resident.

Jonathan Gilbert lay asleep in his study, his glasses askew on his head. His arms spread out in front of him as though he was trying to save someone from falling, trying to catch someone among his dreams. John's nose was buried in the same book that his daughter had willingly fetched from the Library yesterday evening. Sweet Elena had asked no questions and had obliged to her father's orders. The only sound that could be heard was the faint muffled breathing and snoring that also arose from Jonathan. Falling asleep in his study had become a regular thing for Jonathan ever since he had moved to Mystic Falls, the hometown of his wife and where she had begun her investigation into the disappearance of Damon Salvatore only to find something rather unexpected about the town's history.

Elena peered in through the gap in the doorway and sighed softly to herself. Just once she would like to wake up without having to check whether her father was sleeping in his actual bedroom or his beloved study that he seemed to grow attached to since they had moved to Mystic Falls. Ever since they had moved to Mystic Falls all her father had done was read books on the local history and some outrageous fiction stories about murder, vampire and other supernatural creatures. Elena loved the fictional side of books and relished in the fantasy of there being other worlds with other beings but it was something strange about her father when he was reading the books. He seemed too concentrated on the text, too focused to be fully enjoying the book and let it take over his mind. At first Elena just assumed that it was her father's way of grieving of her mother because she had loved books, enchantments and true love between mystical beings. Still there was a nagging thought in the back of Elena's mind that told her that her father was obsessing and that it was something more to it, something more to the story.

She closed the door shut as quietly as she could before making her way back to the kitchen to quickly wash the dishes from the night before and the cutlery from her breakfast. She scrubbed the dishes ferociously creating large bubbles in the sink but with every scrub she pictured the sponge wiping all the sad and ordinary parts of her life. The water poured endlessly from the taps and washed over her hands leaving no traces of soap on her hands or the dishes. The water represented the life she dreamed of, the life of magic, adventure and love. A life that could probably happen for her if she did not live in Mystic Falls but she was trapped in the town of Mystic Falls and forever to be known as the lunatic's daughter who should never marry just in case she turned out to be like her father. It didn't matter he was a Doctor, what really mattered was that he was more or less recluse and that his beautiful young daughter took care of him.

On their first arrival to Mystic Falls both Elena and her father had been welcomed in a warm and homely manner. The hospital had offered John a job as soon as they had heard that he had been a doctor previously but to Elena's surprise her father had declined the offer. It was summer when they had arrived so Elena hadn't received the opportunity to meet many of her school friends and the ones that did ignored her because she wasn't a founding member of Mystic Falls and by the time school had started no one had wanted anything to do with her. With every week that had passed during the summer more and more rumours had spread about John Gilbert which he only added to by hardly leaving the house and if he did he only seemed to go to the Library in the evening. He didn't talk to anyone and if anyone talked to him he would always pretend he was in a rush. Honestly, Elena had hoped that her father would have tried with the townsfolk just so she could have a better life and a small part of her resented him for his lack of trying. She understood that he had lost the love of his life but somehow he seemed determined to stay grieving rather than moving on.

Taking a deep breath, Elena grabbed the soap and quickly washed her hands so she wouldn't smell of washing up liquid at school but then again would anyone even notice? Her hand hugged the tap before twisting it sharply immediately stopping the water from turning. Elena turned around slowly and placed her back against the kitchen counter. She just needed someone to talk to other than her diary, her father and Alaric Saltzman the town's Librarian. Surely, she deserved a friend or someone she could confide in. She sighed again and her head fell into her hands.

She just needed someone.

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Damon watched from his bedroom window the woods outside, the forest animals coming together to search for food before once again departing. The sun was high in the sky and back in 1864 he would be smiling thinking it would be a good day for him but now? He only resented the sun and what it could no longer offer him. The sun was nothing other than a ball of flames in the sky, it could not bring him love, luck or even friendship. The sun could not break the curse and the light the sun brought was causing him to remain hidden in the shadows forever. The sun was no longer a peaceful friend but it had become an enemy scarring him with the deepest betrayal.

There was a soft knock on the door but Damon didn't move. He never did. Every day he would remain in the shadows by the window where no sun could catch him and just watch the world outside. He never left the red arm chair during the day for as long as anyone could remember. If you walked in and didn't know about the peculiar case that was Damon Salvatore you would have thought he was some barbaric statue that was used on Halloween to scare children. Sadly, this was not true Damon Salvatore was a true monster of the shadows.

A blonde maid walked in through the door and brushed off the dirt on her black skirt knowing that the Master would no longer get mad at her for leaving dirt on the floor as long as she cleaned it up during the night when he was finally in the dark. The maid kept her head down as she walked over to the Master but her eyes flickered over to the mirror in the corner and she wondered why the Master had never let her clean it and why he had never used it. Every morning when she came into his room he would always be sat looking at the forest but still he would never use the mirror that could give him something more than a forest to admire. Her steps were soft and slow on her way towards her unmoving Master.

"Caroline." Damon whispered, his lips not moving that it would have startled Caroline if she was still human but no the curse had affected the house and everyone it, changing everyone and everything into monsters.

"Yes, Master?" She asked her voice steady as her green eyes slowly rose up from the wooden floor to gaze at her Master's face.

"Give me the bag and the bottle then leave. Your services are not needed this morning." He told her his eyes never straying from the window and his lips never moving. Right now his eyes had drifted over from the forest to the town clock which peered just about the treetops. It was a miracle he could even see it.

"Yes, sir." Caroline whispered.

The floorboards creaked under her steps and she almost winced. It was unclear to what mood her Master was in today. There were days where he said nothing at all and didn't move for the entire twenty fours, he would just wait and let someone bring him a blood bag that they had stolen from Mystic Fall's hospital. Other days he would do his usual routine stay in the chair overlooking the forest and move only to walk the gardens in the night. Then there was the odd days where he would move from his bedroom visit the Library and grab a book to read during the day and then return in the night but there was one thing Damon hadn't done since he was human; smile. He had smiled maliciously or even sarcastically but he never smiled because he was genuinely happy. Maybe that was because he hadn't had a reason to be for 145 years. His life was cursed with no one as company other than those who had been cursed with him and eternally hid from the sunlight. It was the curse of all curses and he would never escape from it, never able to run from it. Damon knew even if he could run from the house that reminded him of everything that had once been his life and future, he wouldn't be able to get very far if he had to remain hidden from the sunlight and leaving Caroline, Stefan, Katherine, Matt and Tyler just didn't seem right.

Damon slowly lifted his arm from the arm of the chair and waved it to Caroline indicating that she should leave his room and let him be. Caroline nodded and straightened the tray that contained Damon's blood bag and bottle of bourbon before taking a step backwards. She took another few steps back and her green eyes remained fixed on the back of her Master's head who seemed to have already forgot her presence in the room. She sighed softly finally realizing that today was one of those days where he would remain in the chair until nightfall. Today held no promise, no conversation, and no hope just something bad and depressing.

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The bell rang for the end of the day and Elena shoved all her books into her bags without taking the slightest bit of attention to care for the books like she usually did. Today had been one of the bad days for her, the whispers of her being crazy like her father were louder than usual and people stared for longer than they usually did. Girls laughed hysterically behind her back at lunch when she had been sat alone in the cafeteria reading one of her favourite books that she had received from her trip to the Library yesterday afternoon. Boys made jokes about her as she walked past them in the corridor, some were hideously rude and piggish whilst others were just cruel and inhuman for boys to say girls.

The tears slowly fell down on her face and Elena just wanted to run. She just had to escape this town where everyone who was treated different was mocked for the rest of their lives and forced to spend their lives alone with knowing to care for them. How could people do this to another person? How could they constantly call her names when she had done nothing other than be her father's daughter and love to read books? How was any of it right? She hated this town and for the first time in her life she hated what it meant to be her father's daughter. She hated him!

Elena's tiny fists pushed the school doors open aggressively and pushed through a group of local cheer leaders who looked down on her with sarcastic grins on their faces as though they had just won the ultimate prize by seeing Elena Gilbert breaking in front of their very eyes. The blonde with the perfect hair, make up and body laughed loudly but Elena closed her eyes and held her breath. After all it wasn't their fault they were like this it was their families. Their families had raised them to be nothing other than vultures on those who were different to them, to those who had believed in different things. The entire town was to blame.

Running to her car Elena unlocked the car doors and swung her bags into the back of the car without taking a second glance. Something had snapped inside her and she was tired of having this self-control over her emotions. She needed to be impulsive and do something for her without wondering whether she should ask her father first on his permission. Elena had never rebelled against her father like most teenagers do her age or even when her mother had died she didn't blame her father, she didn't blame anyone. She had carried on being the sweet loving beautiful girl that both her parents had known her to be but now she just couldn't hold it anymore. She was tired of being treated differently; tired of being ignored she just wanted somebody to talk to her.

The car screeched out of the car park and the all too familiar rain began to fall down mirroring the tears that were still falling down the cheeks that belonged to Elena Gilbert. She kept taking random lonely roads that she had never been down before but hoped that they would lead her to some far away land where there was no High School and where nothing other than adventure existed. With every tree that passed Elena prayed that somehow she was just going to disappear into nature and no one will ever think of her again. No one except her father who wouldn't be able to deal with losing her. Elena was the only thing that kept her father's heart beating without her he would have drowned himself in alcohol and eventually killed himself so he could be with his dearest Isobel. Elena was the only reason that her father was alive and to leave him would be nothing other than selfish on her part. She couldn't leave Mystic Falls into a far away land where love and adventure waited for her. No she had to return the miserable town of Mystic Falls and be with her father. And as the realization hit Elena as she stopped the car and rested her head back against the seat. The wipers still brushing away the tears of the rain and Elena wished there was someone to do that for other than her father who was completely oblivious that she was hurting.

"Help me, Mom." She whimpered. "Help me. How am I supposed to live my life here? Dad doesn't want to go anywhere else so I'm stuck here where I'm not allowed to be me. I have no one anymore. You left. Dad is here but he's still not Dad. He's up to something, Mom. What is he doing?"

Elena knew that if there was a book this would be the part where an unknown sign would come from above and it would give her the courage to carry on with her life just the way it was but somehow give her the motivation to find out what her father was hiding from her. She knew that if she were simply a character in the book crying in the car she would come out stronger for it and become a better person but she wasn't a character in a book. No, she was simply Elena Gilbert a character from God's creation into the real world. She wouldn't get the sign that she needed to find out what her father was doing and she wouldn't become a fighter like all the heroines did in the books she read. She sighed, she just didn't believe she was strong enough to become someone who was confident enough to confront her father and tell him she wanted to leave. Elena just wasn't that person.

"I need you, Mom." She breathed.

The rain continued to fall down around her and a million thoughts entered her head at once whilst her heart continued to break in her chest. She wasn't strong; she had no one to help her be strong. All Elena had learned to do from her father was to take each day a day at the time and learn to cope with everything. She had learned to smile and breathe but Elena didn't want to barely manage to get through the day she wanted to be strong. She wanted to be the characters that she had read about but she had no idea how to transform into the character. She had no idea how to be the hero.

"Stick with what you know." Elena muttered under her breath.

From the back of the car her phone started to shriek loudly interrupting the peaceful sanctuary that Elena had been living in for the last few moments. Elena closed her eyes and took a deep breath there was only one person who would be calling her right now; her father and he was one person she just couldn't bring herself to talk to right now. Elena didn't want to fight with him and scream that she hated him because those things weren't true. All she was mentally asking for was something more than the occasional 'goodnight' or 'go to the library for me, love' and she didn't think she was being selfish for asking for more than that. After all a relationship between a father and daughter is sacred and should be treated with the most tenderness and care and she wanted the bond she had once shared with her father.

More rain came down harder than it ever had before in Mystic Falls. The rain swooped down from the heavens and landed relentlessly on the ground to where its prey stood away from the protection of shelter. Elena shuddered and mentally applauded herself for not getting out of the car. Her phone had been ringing endlessly for the last few minutes but Elena was still searching for the strength to answer it. She sighed and looked up to the troubled skies who's tears seemed to fall infinitely and revelation somehow hit her in square in the chest causing her problems to all seem minor. The entire world was crying but for far more pressing problems than bad relationships with her father. Problems like starvation, crime, homelessness, slavery and trafficking were bigger problems and she knew she should count herself lucky for not fitting into that category. Her failed relationship with her father was nothing compared to the problems of the world. Nothing.

Elena twisted her body around and reached into the back seat of her car. Her small hands rummaging through the books and items that took residence in her school bag. Finally she found her phone in the depths of the bag and screen was lit up with the word 'Dad' written across the blue screen in white handwriting. For a split second just like she always did, Elena thought that maybe someone from school had phoned her to ask her to hang out but she had never had such luck. She involuntarily sighed, who else would it be? Her thumb ran over the answer button a few times before she finally braced herself to press it.

"Hello?" She whispered mentally preparing herself from the lecture that her father would surely be expected to come. She knew he would start talking fast and asking questions about where she was and who she was with. As she waited for a reply she turned the keys into the ignition and the engine slowly came alive.

"Elena, love? I'll be working till late tonight." Jonathan muttered into the phone quickly. "Call Mr Saltzman if you need anything. Will you be okay?"

The word yes surprised Elena as it left her moth because she had wanted to say yes but can we talk afterwards but somehow her mouth had refused to speak the rest of the words. But what shocked her the most was how quickly her father had hung up on her and ended the conversation entirely. He didn't say goodbye or inform what time he would be home at all. His voice had seemed cold to her and indifferent, he just didn't seem to be bothered by her answer or just assumed what she would say but he thought to call her just to seem fatherly towards her. She just didn't know anymore. Maybe he was just busy at the hospital and had an important surgery or something. Maybe.

Elena shut her eyes tightly and ever so slightly her nose scrunched up a little bit as if she was making a silent wish that her problems would disappear and she could have some adventure in life, that someone wanted to spend time with her. She needed someone other than her father and Mr Saltzman to talk to it. They were all she had. Silently she willed all her problems away until she stepped through those odd unwelcoming doors that belonged into the place she called home. Her eyes remained shut and all she could hear was the rain pounding down against the windows warning her to go now. When her eyes opened once more she could no longer see the trees that surrounded her as they were only green and brown smudges that could only be seen by each rain drop that had painted over her windscreen. She simply stared at the smudges for a while before the soft tune of the engine brought her back to reality.

Slowly Elena reversed backwards but her wheels were stuck in heaps of mud that splattered everywhere when the wheels turned around her. She tried again but the car only seemed to go forwards rather than backwards. Elena prayed with all her might that this time the car would move because she didn't have a jacket with her and didn't fancy walking through town drenched to the bone, it would only give the people of Mystic Falls another reason to call her weird anyway. She yanked the gear stick harshly into reverse again and stepped on the pedal aggressively she would do this, she would get out of this. The car reversed backwards and somehow managed to drag itself out of the mud beneath it. Elena smiled to herself before turning the steering wheel around so she could turn back up on to the road but the car didn't seem to agree with her request and instead the car just kept sliding on the mud and was going backwards. Her heart was pounding against her chest and her eyes were wide. No! This wasn't supposed to happen, no, no, no. The back of her car bumped into a tree and she jumped in her seat as she turned the wheel to try and get back on the road but the car turned into group of trees.

It was like the accident was happening in slow motion right in front of Elena's eyes and she moved her hands in front of her face knowing it was a feeble way of protecting herself. As the side of the car fell into a tree causing Elena to fly into the door winding in her to her very core. A large branch pushed its way through the windscreen and the glass broke immediately shards cutting through Elena's skin like flying razor blades. One final hit caused Elena to hit her head on the steering wheel and send her flying back into her car seat. And that's when everything went black for Elena Gilbert.

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**What did you think? She's in the woods. Damon's looking out into the woods. It's raining. Hmm...what could possibly happen in the next chapter? ;) Thank you so much for reading and being patient with me, I love you guys. Please review. **

**Twitter & Wattpad: FlyingFireworks**

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**Love Midnightgirl467 xox**


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